China's ZTE Says Smartphone Shipments to U.S. Jump More Than 50 Percent in 2014

(Reuters) - Smartphone shipments of China's ZTE Corp to the United States jumped more than 50 percent in 2014, outpacing the company's global smartphone shipment growth of 20 percent, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

The company expected mid- to high-end smartphones to make up 45 percent of its global smartphone shipments this year, up from 35 percent in 2014, ZTE's executive vice president Adam Zeng told Reuters in an interview in Hong Kong, as it tries to improve margins in the highly competitive mobile phones sector.

The Shenzhen-based company said last week its 2014 profit was likely to rise 94 percent thanks to its high-speed 4G network division and smartphone business.